


Bram Vs. The Creekwood Agenda

by catwiii



Category: Simonverse | Creekwood Series - Becky Albertalli
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Gay Relationship, F/F, F/M, M/M, POV Bram Greenfeld, POV Third Person, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Retelling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:36:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28987215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catwiii/pseuds/catwiii
Summary: a look into the soul of bram greenfeld from when he moved to georgia and met simon and beyond love, creekwoodcanon compliant - my take on bram's life before and during simon vs and after love creekwoodthis is basically the simon vs rewrite in blue's pov. enjoy!
Relationships: Bram Greenfeld & Garrett Laughlin, Bram Greenfeld/Simon Spier, Cal Price/Nora Spier, Garrett Laughlin/Morgan, Leah Burke & Simon Spier, Leah Burke/Abby Suso, Nick Eisner & Simon Spier, Nick Eisner/Abby Suso, Nick Eisner/Taylor Metternich, Simon Spier & Abby Suso
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Bram Vs. The Creekwood Agenda

Bram set the last box down at the foot of his new bed, collapsing onto the bare mattress with a sigh. Finally, he was done moving his boxes into his room.

He turned over and stared up at his new ceiling. The ceiling in his old room had been a soft shade of blue and used to have glow in the dark stars plastered to it. His old room had posters of soccer players, shelves of books and trophies, pictures with his friends and pictures of his favorite superheroes pinned above his headboard. 

In his old room, things had been normal. Now he was forced to live this new normal. Don’t get him wrong, he loved his mom more than anything. He was happy to be living with her, and happy that she had gotten the job position she’d wanted. Sure, the divorce hadn’t been easy for any of them. His mother was a very considerate woman, and his father was a very sophisticated man. They both had a lot of love and respect for each other, despite everything that had happened, and Bram knew that they both loved him dearly. Compared to other situations, Bram was very lucky and he knew that. He didn’t see his dad as often as he used to, but they kept in touch. 

Bram was just happy that they didn’t hate each other. Even he, at fourteen years old, could agree that they were better off as friends. Plus, his stepmother was really nice. He liked her a lot, and he thought that she was a wonderful match for his father. He had a great stepmom, a fairly present father, and both of his parents were best friends with each other. It could be worse, he knew that.

But he hated moving. He  _ hated  _ all of the change. He hadn’t wanted to leave Savannah, all his friends were there, all of his favorite teachers were there. Being able to see his father every weekend had been great, especially when the divorce had hit the hardest. He had gotten used to seeing his father so often, gotten used to the alternating Friday afternoon pick ups, gotten used to doing jigsaw puzzles with his stepmom.

It sucked. He missed his old life.

But he knew that he should at least try to like Shady Creek. It was definitely a quiet town, not much different from Savannah in hindsight, it still had a larger ratio of white people than black and was very suburban in general. He and his mom had driven by his new high school on the way to the new house, Creekwood High. The name was kind of cool, his mom had called it catchy. She seemed to really like the town.  _ “Any town with a local Waffle House is good in my book,” _ she had joked. 

She seemed really happy here. Not that she hadn’t been happy in Savannah, because she had, even after the divorce. If anything she seemed even happier after the divorce, as if just staying friends with Bram’s dad had lifted a burden from her shoulders and now she could finally breathe.

But in Shady Creek she seemed hopeful and excited for the change. And so Bram promised himself that he would try to do the same for her sake. He liked seeing his mom smile. He didn’t have it himself, he shared a smile with his dad instead, but they did share the same crinkle around the eyes when they both smiled. It was something he really liked about himself. Not that he didn’t like himself per se, and he shared  _ most _ of his features with his mom anyway - she was black, his dad was white - but he especially liked their eye crinkles in particular.

Maybe he would like Shady Creek, though. At least here no one would call him Dinosucker anymore, it was a fresh start. And he planned to join the soccer team, so he would be able to make a few friends off the bat.

He could like it here. He had four years to make a mark at Creekwood High, to get used to this town, make a few friends, have fun here with his mom. It wasn’t so bad when he put it like that. 

“Bram, honey?” His mom knocked on his slightly ajar bedroom door. 

“Yeah,” Bram sat up in his bed. 

His mom poked his head in, smiling at him. “You alright?”

“Yeah, just tired.” He gestured to all the boxes in his room. “They’re heavy. But I moved them all.”

“Yes you did,” His mom laughed. “I’m glad you’re taking a break. I just uncovered the peanut butter, if you’re hungry.”

Bram swung his legs off the side of the bed. “Peanut butter toast?”

“Peanut butter toast.”

Bram was already out the door.

* * *

  
  


“Are you excited?” His mother asked him on the way to school Monday morning.

Bram shrugged, staring out the passenger seat window. “A little. I’m more nervous than anything, I guess.”

“Oh, honey, you’ll do fine,” She smiled at him when they came to a red light. “You’ll make plenty of friends on the soccer team.”

“If I get on the soccer team,” Bram reminded her, which she scoffed at.

“Bram, you’re a fantastic soccer player, and I’m not just saying that because I’m your mother. You’re very talented, they’ll have no choice but to put you on the team.” She glanced at him briefly, still smiling. “Promise me you will at least try to make friends? I know that the first conversations are always awkward, but it’ll get better once you get over that hurdle.”

“I know, Mom,” He gave her a small smile. “I’ll try, promise.”

His mother seemed content with that answer, a faint smile on her face for the rest of the drive. 

Fifteen minutes later they pulled into the school parking lot. Bram looked out his window and stared up at the big brick and concrete building, his stomach churning. Kids were already heading into the building, some saying goodbye to their parents, some milling around with their friends on the steps in clusters. The marquee sign on the grassy hill next to the steps read,  _ Welcome, Creekwood freshmen! _

“Hey,” Bram peeled his gaze away from the window to look at his mom, who rested her hand on his shoulder. “Have a great first day, Bram. You’re going to do great.”

Bram smiled, leaning over the clutch to kiss her cheek. “Thanks, mom. Have a great first day at work, too. You’re going to do great.”

They smiled at each other for a moment before Bram grabbed his backpack and opened the door, stepping out into the warmth of the morning sun. 

“Love you!” She smiled at him through the window.

“Love you too,” Bram waved at her, then turned towards the steps. He took a deep breath, shouldered his bag, and headed into his new high school.

*****

“Good morning, everyone,” A short-ish blonde woman stood in front of the whiteboard in Bram’s homeroom, giving them all a bright smile.. “I am Mrs. Collins, I’ll be your homeroom teacher for the year. I see a lot of new faces in my classroom. It’s so nice to meet you all. Why don’t we start off with an icebreaker exercise? The people in this room are going to be the people you see in the halls every day for the next four years. You will all be graduating together, so you should get to know each other. Everyone into groups, please.”

A bunch of kids were already huddling into groups as Mrs. Collins gave out the instructions for the exercise, chatting amongst themselves. They were to pair up and introduce themselves, then ask at least two questions to each other that will give a little information on who they were. No one came up to Bram, he was left alone in his seat. He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, glancing around. No one was paying him any attention, it was like he was invisible.

Hating the unfortunately familiar feeling, Bram rose to his feet and went over to the smallest group he could find, which happened to be a lanky blond haired boy wearing round glasses and a Hufflepuff shirt babbling away to his friend, a thick redhead girl fidgeting with a molding eraser as she talked to her friend.

The girl looked up at Bram first as he approached them timidly, nudging the boy with her foot so he would stop talking. The boy looked up at him and oh, god.

Oh no.

So, he was cute. Like, extremely cute. Bram had a problem where whenever he was near a cute boy, his brain shut off and he could not do anything. Not move, not talk, not look at him. He never really paid attention to this part of himself, usually dodging questions about when he would get a girlfriend from his relatives. But Bram had always kind of known that he wouldn’t get a girlfriend, and known that he preferred a boyfriend. But he never really let himself think about it and he definitely never talked about it. 

But as he made eye contact with this boy - with his messy blond fluff and his thin rimmed glasses and the bouncing of his leg and his absentminded half smile and his boldness to wear a fandom shirt on the first day of high school and his very, very, very gray eyes - he came to the conclusion very quickly that he would not be saying very much to this boy for the rest of his high school career.

It was even worse because the boy wouldn’t drop his gaze. He held Bram’s gaze and Bram felt like he was in a trance, staring into twin moons and getting lost in the storms of dust. His eyes were beautiful, but everything about this boy was just  _ beautiful. _

After what felt like weeks of staring at the boy, the girl cleared her throat. “Uh, hi.”

“Hi,” Bram said quietly. “Um. We’re supposed to be doing the exercise and all the other groups have too many people so…”

“Oh, yeah,” The girl glanced around at all the groups. “Okay. Well, I’m Leah.”

Simon gave Bram a big smile, waving at him. “And I’m Simon. What’s your name?”

“Bram,” He murmured, vaguely distracted by Simon’s smile. “It’s Bram. It’s nice to meet you.” He tried for a smile of his own.

“You too, Bram!” When Bram spoke, Simon turned his entire body to him and gave him his full attention, eyes on him and him only. It made Bram feel nauseatingly brave, and a little special, like Simon thought that Bram was worth all his attention. “Are you new here? I’ve never seen you around before. I guess that’s my first question, huh?”

“Well, technically you just asked two questions.” Bram whispered, and Leah let out a short laugh. “But yes, I’m new here.”

“Cool,” Simon nodded animatedly, still focused on him. “Uhh, what’s your favorite food?”

“Peanut butter toast,” Bram answered almost instantly. “My mom and I used to make these blanket forts and watch movies inside them while we ate peanut butter toast.”

“Aww,” Simon laughed, but not in a teasing way. “That’s really cute.”

“Very cute,” Leah added with a slight smile. She had very pretty green eyes. “How old are you?”

“Fourteen,” Bram answered. “You?”

“We’re both fourteen too.” Leah nodded. “Favorite color?”

“Blue,” Bram smiled shyly. “It’s almost my dad’s favorite color.”

“That’s cool.” Simon smiled back at Bram, and Bram could feel his heart pounding louder in his ears. “Your turn.”

“Oh,” Bram thought for a moment, fidgeting with his shirt sleeve as he searched for a question to ask. “Judging by your shirt you seem to like Harry Potter, so if you do, which book is your favorite?”

Simon’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! It’s my favorite book series. Like, of all time. My favorite book is definitely the Deathly Hallows. It’s just all the books wrapped up into one, y’know? Everyone is there, everyone’s story is tucked away into that book. And one way or another, their stories end. Don’t get me wrong though. I hate endings. But something about the fact that it’s the entire Harry Potter story wrapped up into one thick book is comforting, y’know? It makes the ending worth it.” He blushed deeply. “Sorry, I went on a tangent there.”

Leah was laughing into her palm, and Bram couldn’t help but smile at Simon’s adorable rambling. “It’s okay. I think I agree with you. The whole story really is tucked into the last book, isn’t it? It all came together for those last moments.”

“Yeah, exactly!” Simon seemed pleased with Bram understanding his point. “But yeah. Deathly Hallows. Superior book. The movies aren’t bad either, but the books are better. Anyway, next question.”

Bram was quiet as he thought about another question. “If you could have any superpower, what would it be?”

Simon looked thoughtful for several moments. “Probably mind-reading. I would be able to tell what’s going through everyone’s head and it would be so much easier than just trying to guess what people are thinking and feeling, y’know?”

“I think being able to read emotions is a completely different superpower,” Bram said quietly.

Simon laughed, and Bram’s heart thumped like a rabbit’s foot. “Maybe. What about you, Leah?”

Leah tapped her chin. “Super speed. I’d never be late to a class again.”

The three of them started laughing, and for a moment Bram felt like he belonged here. But immediately afterwards, he felt a pang of guilt. Because he had other friends at his old school, because he was starting to enjoy this new school in this new town and felt like he was betraying everyone back in Savannah because he was having fun in Shady Creek.

“Bram?” Simon snapped in front of his face. “Hey, Bram.”

Bram looked up. “Huh? Oh, sorry. I was thinking about something.”

“You think a lot,” Simon mused. “That’s cool. You really process what you say. I don’t.”

Leah burst out laughing again, and Bram couldn’t help but grin. “Anyway, what did you say?”

“Oh, just that that question counted as one to me and one to Leah, so you just have to ask her one more.” 

“Oh. Okay.” Bram turned to Leah. “Favorite thing to do?” 

Leah shrugged. “I read a lot of manga.”

“And fanfiction,” Simon added. “Lots of that.” 

Leah thumped him upside the head, which made him start giggling.

Bram was about to say something when the bell rang.

“Aw,” Simon looked disappointed by the end of class. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Bram. I look forward to ‘seeing you in the hallways for the next four years,’” He quoted, causing Leah to laugh as the two of them stood and grabbed their bags.

Bram smiled. “You too, Simon. Leah.”

Leah waved at him. “See you around, Bram.”

“See you.” 

He watched them file out of the classroom before he grabbed his bag from his desk and headed to his next class. Not that it mattered much, because throughout the entire day, and for the entirety of the next four years, the thought of Simon was a new constant in his mind. Cute Simon Spier, of the fandom shirts and round glasses. Cute Simon Spier, of the wide smiles and gray eyes. He had been lucky to get a single word out to him, there was no way that would happen again.

Bram had a crush on Simon, a rapidly growing one. And he had no idea what he was in for.


End file.
